1985
Essay by review • February 14, 2011 • Essay • 2,972 Words (12 Pages) • 2,060 Views
1985
-George Orwell Summary Chapter 1 and 2
We are introduced to Winston Smith the main character of the story. Works at Ministry of truth. Ministry of truth is one of four government buildings in destroyed London, the main city of Airstrip One, a province of Oceania. Year is 1984 and three contries are at war, Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia. Oceania is run by the party whose leader is Big Brother. Winston is sick of his life in the ruined city and decides to keep a diary. This is against the law in Oceania. He felt his feelings begin to hate Emmanuel Goldstein, leader of the enemy party. He also spots O\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Brien, a party leader whose eyes he see\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s a bit of political sympthy. See\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s young girl who he dislikes. He feels it is only a matter of time before his though crimes are detected. A knock at the door he thinks is police. Mrs. Parsons, his neighbor is at the door and asked him to unclog a sink. He does it but smells sweat all over the apartment. Mrs. Parsons is a follower of party doctrine and a fellow employee at the ministry. The children are members of Spies, a youth that encourages spying and telling on traitors, including parents. Winston is revolted. He returns home and writes a couple more minutes before going back to work. He remenbers a dream where O\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Brien tole him he would meet him in a place wher there is no darkness. He washes his hands and hides the diary
Reaction
Major ideas, conflicts and themes are introduced. We are shown how the earth has changed, into 3 main contenients. we are also introduced to the main character and how he fits into the new world. Also we are shown how the computer age has taken over peoples minds. The language is easy to understand, it has not really changed much over time. Seems like nothing left after nuclear war, just ruins remaining. We are introduced to Tom Parsons which Winston is contrasted with. The city is very drab.
Quotes \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Big brother is watching you, the caption beneath it said\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Thoughtcrime was not a thing that could be concealed for ever.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"
1984
-George Orwell Summary Chapter 3,4 and 5
Waking from dreams, he remembers his mother and sister, and can barely remember their disappearence and feels responsible for there deaths. He has another dream where he is in the perfect countryside with the girl he had noticed eariler. He dreamed she stripped for him. This time he is woken up by the telescreen, telling him to do his exercises. He thinks about how much power the Party has over all information. Begins work at the ministry of truth. His job is to correct printed articles in line with the Party\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s orders. The Ministry and records department jobs are to rewrite history to make the party look good. They get a break because of the 2 minute hate. When he gets back he replaces a speech by Big Brother with invented history. Makes up story about a man named Ogilvy. The article had become contrary to the present party policy. It is replaced as though is never existed. Winston meets Syme, a philologist, for lunch. Syme explains parts about Newas
peak. They are joined by Parsons. Winston thinks of the fate that each co-worker will recieve. Syme will be vapourized because he is to smart, where Parsons is dull enough to escape vapourization. He is the only one who has not been taken over by the propaganda that is always being brodcast. He notices the same girl from the other day starring at him and thinks it is the thought police.
Reaction
The Golden country that he dreams about is definitely
a release or a freedom from the the drabness of London. Also from the party. We are introduced to the fact that he has no mother or father or sisters or brothers anymore because they were taken by the party. He is realizing that he is rebelling against the party and he understands that he is at risk. Winston is in search of the truth and is concerned because of the party\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s ability to change history. We find that he likes his work even though it is for the party and against morals. He is introduced to the girl that will play a big part in the book most likely.
Quotes \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"People in the Records Department did not talk readily about there jobs.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Winstons greatest pleasure in life was his work\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"
1984
-George Orwell Summary Chapter 6,7 and 8
He records in his diary and encounter a couple of years ago with a prostiture mad up to look young, but was really and old woman. This menory of the encounter causes him to think of the policy regarding sex and marriage which the party has enforced. Thsi causes him to theink of his miserable life with his wife Katherine, that he has not seen in eleven years. Winston resents the intrusinon of the Party into the sex lives of its members. Also realizes the discouragement of sexual enjoyment, that makes any love affair with a party member impossible. Writing down the incident does not help him. He makes another entry in his diary, this one concerning the proles. He feels they are the only group that might overthrough the party, but they are unaware of it. There is no way of finding the truth about the past but he does think that present life is worse than the past. He remembers a photo that came into his possession trying to change the pastbut he destroyed it. He plans to stay free. After work one evening, he wonders into the prole end of London, and ends up near the store where he bought the diary. Followas
man into pub and plans to ask him about revolution but man is incoherent. He leaves the pub and wanders. He ends up outside the little antique shop and decides to buy a glass paperweight. Mr. Charrington showas
him a room upstairs and Winston dreams of renting it. He notices a dark haired girl following himand he is sure it is the thought police and he will be arrested.
Reaction
We discover that people have a bond when it comes to sexuallity that the party connot control. Even thought the party rejects sexual relationships between its members.
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